Grace
by Skyress1
Summary: A nearly full grown owlet is taken away from her home, to be trained into a fierce soldier. Meanwhile, the undead Kludd is ruling the Pure kingdom. What if this changes? This is my first attempt at a Gaurdians of Ga'Hoole story and I haven't read the books, just watched the movie... once... the genre will be chosen later..
1. The Pure

**Chapter one**

**The Pure**

A firey-feathered owl stared into the darkness. His head was covered by a metal mask, his claws were enclosed with a pair of iron claws that could kill a human instantly. He was a Pure Owl. He was a leader. He was Metal-Beak, the new metal beak. As he stared into the darkness of the throne room a memory rushed through him.

_Flashback_

_Owls fighting in scorching fire. Trees burning wildly. The screeches of scared, burned and hurt owls echoed through his earholes. He fought his hardest, his best. He wanted to show that he belonged. That he was a Pure owl. His reddish-orange eyes sensed some movement. An owl that he knew very well closed up on him. "Don't do it Kludd, just return to our team and all will be forgiven," the voice said. He shook his head. "No I am one of the Pure ones now!" he replied fiercely, denying all of his past, his family. The fight started._

_Kludd tackled his brother first, but Soren was faster. He cursed his brother. Why was his brother always the better one at everything? Kludd hated his brother right now. He punched Soren with his wings, but it was no use. Soren wasn't giving up and the Pure ones were loosing. No wasn't the time to give up. If Kludd had learned something from his Pure brothers, it was not to give up and use anger as your ally, but that wasn't the main thing, not giving up was. He used all his strength to hit Soren but then... he realised that something pushed him. He felt his feathers burning. Suddenly he couldn't fly anymore. He fell into the greedy flames, the darkness enclosing him..._

_End of Flashback_

The masked owl blinked and then opened his eyes to the reality. He had almost died a month ago, but somehow survived and then returned to the Pure ones who managed, not to win, but atleast keep their kingdom. He was now their ruler and he wanted revenge.

Elsewhere

An owlet was flying over the feilds and trees. For an owlet, she was an exceptional flyer and was almost as good as her parents. She was passing to humming birds, who were flying over the flowers as she sighed. Her home was great and she had a loving family, but she was missing something. Friendship. She had met no other owlets. Not ever. She lived here only with her parents and had no brother she could mention. She had been told what had happened and why she ended up here, but that didn't make her any happier. It tore her heart everytime she thought about it.

The golden owlet landed with grace on the top of a beautiful oak. She stepped inside the housing part seeing her mother and father waving at her. "Mornin' sweetheart," they both greeted her.

"Mornin' ma, mornin' pa," she greeted back. They smiled and went back to their newspapers. Her parents got their reading skill as kids and soon realised it might be neccessary in their life. They were right. "Grace, your breakfast is on the table," her mother told her daughter softly. The golden owlet smiled and walked across the house. She gulped down the mouse and licked her beak. "Yum!" she said. Her father and mother chuckled and then started whispering something to each other, in a concerned tone. "Grace, darling, ma and I need to tell you something," her father announced. He didn't look too happy. "Father, is something wrong, did I do something wrong?" Grace asked.

"I know it is your birthday today, your fifteenth, but we need to move out, starting tommorow," her father quickly explained. Grace was shocked. She had lived here almost her whole life. Why would they move now? "Your mother had been patrolling the rea last night and she saw some strangers, they seemed to be one of the 'Pure'," her father continued. Grace hated the Pure owls, they were a nasty bunch. "And I had heard of a forest fire, a very strange one too, well more like read about it, but it happened in the wood next to ours!"

The shocked family was silent for a minute but then resumed in speaking. "But surely,. those owls were just passing by," Grace tried to convince her father to let them stay. Her father shook his head. "I don't think so. The Pure ones only 'pass by' if they want to steal some owlets and murder owls," he disagreed. "I know this is hard for us. Particularly for you, Grace, but we can't just stay here and die!"

So that's how it continued. They quickly packed up and as the sun rose, the owlet fell asleep for her last time here. But before she looked at her beloved valley, which was so long undisturbed.

Little did she know that a red owl had been watching her all night, seeing her potential. _This one is bound to please the king and queen! _it thought with a menancing smile. It was Jatt... or maybe Jutt...

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please review. I know it ain't much of a begining, but give this story a chance... please!**


	2. Soldier or Servant

Grace was awoken to a sound of rustling feathers. A creepy looking owl stood infront of her. She wanted to scream for help, as she realised who this owl was, but the owl closed her beak, before she could utter a sound. By the time she was free to call for help, it was too late. The owl was carrying her with his talons, way back to the Pures' land -St Aegolius. She picked up her courage and screeched at the owl, hoping the owl would drop her. But the Jatt just carried on, ignoring the owlets' screeching.

Two hours later, Grace had given up and was completely mute. Suddenly she saw a gray owl that looked almost like her captor. "Hey Jatt, what mute you got there?" The gray owl asked, in a mocking tone. Jatt glared angrily at him. "Five minutes ago she was louder than any owlet you or I have ever carried, Jutt, so shut you beak!" Jatt replied. Suddenly Grace realised who they were. They were the ones who had once captured Kludd and Soren, the two well known owls. Gracfe was shocked. This shock quickly disappeared and changed into pity as she realised what Jutt was carrying. A fawn coloured owl, roughly her age and size was held in his claws, as the frightened creature looked down at the ground that was sso far off. "You know Jutt, your owlet isn't much louder than mine is now," Jatt pointed out, interupting Grace's thoughts. She listened to their conversation to try and get some news. Unfortunately, they only spoke about useless themes, like who looked more ugly and which ones' owlet was going to be stronger.

She was finally there. The place looked frightening. No, more than that. Grace gulped. At any other time, this place would seem interesting to her, but being stolen from her family, this place creeped her out. Jatt dropped her and then landed on to the ledge. He pushed her inside the cave that stood there. It was the throne room. A bunch of other owlets, followed, to scared to speak, their big eyes reflecting their sadness and shock. Grace felt sorry for them. Suddenly a voice called out. "Welcome to St Aegolius, the home of the Pure," A white owl spoke. Nyra. "We have came to help you, to take you home, after your parents have left you," the owl lied. Grace didn't believe a single word of it, not that she should have. "You will all be taken care of and you will have the chance to learn to fly if you are fortunate enough." Whilst some may have considered this as a tempting offer, Grace didn't. She could already fly. "Some of you might even have the luck and be the new kings soldier," Nyra exclaimed. The crowed grew excited. They all wanted to know who the new king was and most of them wanted to know his weakness.

Nyra started picking who the servants will be and who the soldiers will be. She stopped as she got to Grace. "So what is your choice owlet? Do you want to become a soldier? I heard you can fly, that is an excellent skill to posses," Nyra said. Grace shook her head nervously. "Fine then, have it you way," Nyra replied. Suddenly the king interupted. "Owlet, I do not think you have a choice, as you can fly, you will join the soldiers!" This struck both Nyra and Grace. "Ohdon't be so shocked, I just choice what is right for her," the king added with an smile, covered by his mask. Grace gulped. Nyra just casually carried on, like if nothing happened, picking the owlets that were fit enough to join the army.

After that the owlets chosen for soldier work followed a huge greyish black owl, who was not Jutt by the way. "You will be waking up shortly, so I would advise you to get some sleep," he said sternly to the young owls. They just nodded and went to their bunk. The bunks were hard and uncomfortable, but Grace could do nothing about it.

Meanwhile

Kludd was trying to catch some sleep as he thought over the latest events in his head. _Why did I spare that owlet it's life?_ he thought. _Why did I not just let her endure the misery of being a slave, it would be so much more enjoyable! _

He didn't like sparing owls' lives. It made him look soft, he didn't like being a softie. His own father mostly praised his brother, for which he hated him and most other owls. He wanted vengence, but not this. Well he already chose, so atleast the owlet is going to hate him. It was not like the owlet took it as a favour. He almost felt better. Then something came to his head. An idea, an idea that will scare the owlets, that would help him feel much happier.


	3. A Fight With The King

**Chapter 3**

**A fight with the king**

It had been a month since Grace was taken away from her home and thrown into the soldier group. She loathed the thought of fighting for the Pure ones, but she had no other choice. She had just passed the test, though in her own way. She could still remember the tiny, scared blue bird that she caught and how strangely she caught him. Not as ruthlessly as the others would have, but in her wings. This unfortunately made her landing a bit more painful, but it was worth it. Everyowl thought of her as being to much of a softie afterwards, but she proved she was more skilled at flying than those brutal owls that were in this race. She had caught the bird though, so she had passed as well.

Now she was in a large hall were a tournament was held. Although she hated seeing blood, she still had to fight. She had seen the fights that others were having, which made her gulp. Now it was her turn. A huge brute of an owl stood before her, with claws as sharp as knives, capable of tearing her to peices. _I better watch out for those,_ she thought. The owl quickly struck her, but she dodged it's move and most of it's other strikes. She used one of his strikes to attack him and so when he dived down to attack her she struck out her claws and scratched his face. She didn't attack him as single time afterwards, but was capable of dodging his attacks, tiring the huge owl in half an hours time. The giant dropped, leaving Grace as the winner. The owls thagt had just been watching, stared at her in awe, not understanding how she could win.

Unfortunately, her victory was short-lived. A flame coloured barn owl with a medtal mask covering his face came in to the battlefeild. It was the king, Metalbeak. "So I see that you one, owlet," he said in a vicious tone, "a gentle owlet that hardly attacked her opponent has one, well now I've seen everything!" Instead of bowing her head, Grace glared at the king, much to everyowls' surprise. "I see you aren't afraid and I see you can fight, though a bit odly," the king continued. "I have decided to battle the winner of this tournament and apparently that's you!" Grace gulped, making the king smile. "This will be fun!" he said laughing. The others laughed as well.

The king flew into the air as high as possible. "I do not suppose you can beat me anyway," the king said, "so I'll make it more equal and I will fight without a mask and withought iron claws!" With that said he slowly took of his iron claws, to reveal the more natural, shorter owl claws. Everyowl stared at the king. They had been wondering who their king was and what was he hiding. The most shocked owl was Grace. The kings head was reddish-orange and his face was a creamy white. There was one barn owl in history that had this face. Kludd. "But, but... you were meant t...to b...be dead," Grace said. Kludd smiled evily. "You naive young owlet, did you really think a small fire could defeat me! You weren't even in the battle, so you know nothing!" Kludd said. "Let's see if you can last in the air for longer than a minute, without me defeating you!"

Grace picked up her courage and flew up, as high as she could go. Kludd attacked her with his claws. Furious, he descovered that the owlet dodged his attack. Grace didn't even attempt to attack him. She felt that that would have been a terrible mistake to do so. The king attacked again. This time he tried to hit her with his wings, but she dodged again. This made him even more angry. "You do have a temper problem, Kludd," she mocked him. Two adult owls stared at her openbeaked. "How dare you tell me that I have a problem!" Kludd shouted, preparing for a stoop. He swooped down and tried to grabb Grace, but she just flew over to the side, smilling. "Wonder how much you hate me now, Kludd, as much as you were jealous of Soren?" she asked with a laugh. He growled and attacked her again.

After an hour, Grace felt her wings getting heavy. Kludd however felt nothing more than rage. "After I beat you, you'll recieve a punishment and the worst one I can find you!" Kludd said. "To show you that you should never mock me!" Grace felt like laughing. She dodged yet another of his moves. Suddenly she felt a tight grip. It was Kludds claws. She almost felt like if they were going to peirce her wings. His claws began to dig deeper. She had no choice but to attack. "Guess I have no choice, shame," she said. She bent her neck slightly and used her beak to bite into Kludds leg. He screeched in pain and let go of her in mid air. She quickly opened her wings and began flying again. She saw that Kludds leg was bleeding badly, so she slowly neared him. As she did so Kludd snapped at her. All of the audience left half an hour ago, so they didn't see what happened. Grace decided for escape. She flapped her wings, using all her left over strength and began to rise to the ceiling. There was a tiny hole in the ceiling, just big enough for her to escape.

Kludd noticed that she was escaping. He silently followed her, unoticed. Just as she was about to squeeze through that hole, Kludd clawed her legs so thet started bleeding and then as owlet dropped down a little with the pain, he grabbed her again. She screeched in pain. "This will surely show you not to escape!" the king said. Grace was feeling scared, angry and hurt at the same time. As she tried to escape the king just dugg his claws deeper into her wings, this time making sure he peirced through them. Grace cried out in pain. Suddenly, Kludds' expression changed and he no longer felt victorious. This cry tore through him, making him feel the pain she felt. Seeing the bloodied and torn owlet, made him gulp. He slowly lowered to the ground and then let go of the owlet. She panted and screeched, trying to flap her wings. She realised that her wings couldn't enable her to fly anymore. She tried to stand up, but she fell as soon as she got onto her feet.

She wonder why Kludd hadn't killed her yet. Surely, he wouldn't let traitors live on. The owl already had his mask and metal claws back on. "Wonder, why I picked you to be a soldier," he muttered," stupid thing to do!" She nodded her head weakly, in agreement. Kludd slowly limped to her, which made her realise that his wounds were deep as well. She felt sorry for him, but why? "Do you wonder why I haven't killed you?" he asked. She nodded. "To tell the truth, I don't know either," he replied with a sigh. "We can have a deal. You stay loyal and I won't issue you a punishment. For now," he offered. "You know well that you cannot escape." She nodded. "Fine," she muttered weakly. Kludd helped her up and lead her to her dorm. "Though don't expect me to spare you or help you next time!" Grace smiled and lay down in her nest. Kludd disappeared into the darkness.

"So how was the fight? I bet a weakling like you didn't stand a chance against Metalbeak!" a girl that shared the dorm with her asked. Grace shook her head. "You're right, I managed to hit nhim once, but it did nothing really," Grace replied. She sighed. Now she was stuck here for ever.

Meanwhile

Kludd was in his nest. Why hadn't he killed her? She was a traitor afterall. Never mind that. He heard that some non-Pure owls were flying over the area the other day. He should prepare the soldiers for a fight. Now however, he should get some sleep.

_Dream_

_Kludd was walking down the hallways inside the caves. Suddenly he spotted light. In the bright light a figure stood. Well an owl if we are being precise. As he neared the owl he saw she had golden feathers and big, beautiful, blue eyes. "Hello-o, Kludd," she greeted him with a sugary tone. He felt dazed and ... mushy? "Do you remember me?" the owl asked, so softly. He shook his head. "I am grace, the owl that spared you, the owl that you spared, the owl that died because of you!" she said her voice sounding harsh and angry now. He looked at her in confusion. "I... I didn't kill you," he replied. Grace shook her head. "A day after our fight, you and I went into battle, but you let me die, you let me fall to my doom! The owl pierced me because YOU didn't come and help, you had to fight Soren!" Grace said in a voice that creeped him out. "And for that you must die!" Kludd screamed in pain as the owl troe through his chest with one of her claws._

_He fell to the ground, clutching his chest. "Why did you do that?" he asked the golden owl. She gave him a smile and then kissed him. "So we can be together, Kludd," she said in a honeyed voice. His eyes filled with fear. "Noooo!" Kludd screamed._

_End of Dream_

"Noooo!" Kludd screamed in terror. Suddenly something crashed and he realised he had been dreaming. He blinked twice and then looked around. "Phew!" he sighed in relief. He thought about the battle oncoming, but then fell asleep as he did so. This time he had no dreams.

Back with Grace

Grace was trying to fall asleep but she just couldn't manage it. At first it was because of the pain in her legs and wings, but then it turned into thoughts. Thoughts that didn't let her fall asleep. Questions unanswered and fears that stayed intact.

**I know it's not much of a good chapter, but please review, even if they weren't positive reviews... please... **

**It'll make me update it a little more often...**


	4. The Battle

**The Battle**

Kludd looked to his left and then right. 30 owls were at his side, prepared to defeat the Gaurdians. One of them gulped as she looked at the large group of owls that were nearing them. Obviously it was Grace. Kludd flew up to her, his mask on his face and his metal claws on his feet. "The Pure do not accept cowards, brush that fear off owlet, now's your chance to become famous, all you have to do is... STOP BEING A COWARD!" he shouted at her. She flinched , but then resumed in flapping her wings.

The Gaurdian owls were here. Two new warrior, two red feathered owls attacked first. They attacked two small sooty owls and made a quick job of killing them. This allarmed the Gaurdians as they started hurling onto the Pure owls and started attacking them. Soren took on Kludd. the two started fight feircely. Suddenly, Soren realised he was battling against his brother. "Kludd?!" Soren gasped. Kludd smirked. "Did you think I was dead?" he asked laughing evily. Soren flinched. He thought his brother had died, but this evil laughed he was alive and as Pure as ever!

Meanwhile, a massive chocolate brown owl had took on Grace. She tried to avoid his swipes, but she only just managed it. Seeing how strong the owl was, she didn't even think about counterattacking. "Guess the Pure have a coward, what are you an owlet?!" the owl mocked her with his male voice. This made her angry. "For your information, I am an owlet!" Grace retorted. "I see you're an adult, but I don't know your name." The owl smiled. "An enemy chatting to an enemy, now I've seen everything!" he said. "Fine, my name's Bravewing! And yours, owlet?"

"The name's Grace," she replied. Suddenly an owl shouted at her. "Soldier you're meant to fight no chat!" the owl shouted. She obeyed the owl's command. She treid do claw at Bravewing, but he counter attacked, sending her falling. She regained her balance and started flying back. Bravewing started pecking at her, wounding her badly. She cried out in pain. Sonn she decided to use her first strategy and went back to dodging attacks and not attacking.

Her opponent seemed to have a lot of stamina. Even after half the owls in the battlefield had fallen, the two still were battling. He was a real proffesional. "And they say you were the best trainee!" Bravewing continued to mock Grace, who was hurt now, both spiritually and physically. Bravewing shoved her to the side. In the tiny amount of time he had free, he let out a strange noise, that sounded like a songbird's. Grace managed to fly back, but little did she know that this whistle meant more than met the ear.

Kludd was battling Soren and was begining to tire out. Soren heard his panting and he chuckled. "Tired?" he asked his brother mockingly. Kludd growled. "Not really!" he snapped. Suddenly, he saw something odd. There were two owls flying up to a golden-feathered owlet. The owlet didn't seem to notice. It was Grace! She was fighting a bulky, strong, chocolate feathered owl. _Let her die, not going to do much harm, _hen thought to himself. He looked at the falling owls. half of them were Pure owls, which meant they only had half the owls they had before. If anyone asked, it was because he didn't want to loose a soldier that was a good flier so fast!

He quickly flew behind one of the owls and pierced throught the owl's back. The he took on the second owl. It screeched and flapped his wings at him, but with no avail. Kludd grabbed the owl's wing and shook it hard, making it break and then he sent the owl falling down. It let out a cry and then fell onto the ground where it lay motionless. Kludd smiled victoriously and then went back to fighting the half amused half shocked Soren. "You had to kill them?!" he asked furious. "You're the same monster like the others." Kludd smirked. Then Soren's expression changed from angry to amused. He started sing, even if it was a fail. "Kludd and owlet on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" This made Kludd furious. "I hate Grace, not love... and I never will!"

"Aw... you even remember her name... how sweet!" Soren mocked. "Just remember ... never say never," he whispered those last few words. Kludd kicked at his brother. "Get out of the Pure's territory, before I kill the rest of you, you too Soren." Soren looked at his enraged brother. "I won't hesitate to kill anyone, I am metal beak and I will even try and kill you, brother!" 15 shocked gaurdian owls froze in midair as they heard him. They were surprised that Kludd survived and his words were creeping them out. They all bolted away.

Well, not all of them. Bravewing was fighting Grace, yes still fighting her. Bravewing seemed tired out and he had a wound below his eye and on his wing. The most creepiest one was the wound that was in the shape of a star. It was on his chest and blood oozed from it. Grace had also her own wound, most weren't deep, but she was bloodied and some of her feathers were torn out. She didn't look as if she would last much longer. Kludd regretted that he appointed her as a warrior, she would surely loose. Bravewing attacked her again, scratching at her and kicking her. Then he grabbed her by her wings and started tearing at them, whilst the owlet screeched in pain.

Suddenly, a fire lit up. _Not again! _thought Kludd miserably. He saw that his soldier were watching the fight as well, amused, by the owls attempts at attacking bravewing. Then it clicked! The gaurdians had set fire to this forest to burn any owls that went to close. They were waiting a couple of meters from Grace's fight, watching. Kludd was sickened. _And they called themselves the good ones!_ he thought. He saw that Grace was losing. Something tugged at his heart. "Wait," he muttered to himself.

Grace was out of energy. Slowly she was being beaten to her limits, slowly she was giving up. Then she started falling into the fire. Bravewing flew off, laughing. Kludd waqtched her falling into the flames, remembering the day when he fell too. This time, the victim was too wounded to survive. He commanded his soldiers to leave. They didn't argue. As they did so, Kludd lunged into the fire and pulled Grace out. He then flew to a rock that was out of harm's way and lay the owl on the rock. The owl lay there unconcious, barely breathing. He gave her on last look and flew off, back to his kingdom.

_An hour later, with Grace..._

Grace started coughing. She woke up and stood up and looked at the flames that raged nearby. She thought she would have been dead, but someone saved her... who? It couldn't been Kludd... he wouldn't save a soldier's life. she looked at her wings. They were slightly torn, but not broken. She slowly flew up, into the air. They she flew in the direction of the Pure ones. She said she would be loyal and then it was the Gaurdians that nearly killed her, that wasn't an option anymore, she would have to stay with the Pure ones. Her wings were throbbing, but she still flew on.

_With Kludd..._

Kludd didn't expect that Grace would return, nor did he really want her too. Or did he? He was disturbed from his thoughts , when an owl came crashing in. She landed with a thud. "Huh?!" He walked up to the owl. Just an owlet. It was Grace! "Sorry I came late... I just had a little bit of trouble, but someone helped me," she apologised. He tried to mask his look with a question. "Who?" he asked. She shook her head and sighed. "I don't know."

"Does that owl know that he/she shouldn't help other owls, especially if they are enemies!" he asked. That owl did know, but Kludd tried to not show anything."Well atleast you have another soldier that didn't die!" She answered back. "Oops sorry master... i didn't mean to-," she was going apologise, but then she saw Kludd laughing. "Huh?!"

"Nothing that is meant for you owlet!" he stopped laughing and replied. Grace nodded her head and walked of to her dorm. After that, Kludd chickled for a while and then went back to being serious. "How was the fight?" A voice asked. Kludd turned around to see Nyra. "Um... it went well enough! We fought them off!" he replied quickly.

"I see you aren't angry anymore, i hope that doesn't effect your battling, Metalbeak!" Nyra added. Kludd shook his head. "It takes more than a change in emotion to change the fighting of a Metalbeak!" he replied. _Why would a chuckle change me?!How could a chuckle be that pwerful? _Kludd asked himself. Nyra walked off. Kludd went into his dorm and took of his mask and metal claws. They were starting to get uncomfortable. He fell asleep and as he did so, he realised that his dreams began to change. The dreams of power changed into the dreams that inluded love, hate and attraction, the natural kind.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I know, not very interesting, but atleast things are warming up! Please review and I'll update as soon as possible!**


	5. Training Trouble

Kludd had recently been... well... rather unfocused. This was not a bad thing. Not for those fighting againts him. He did help train the soldiers, but not with the fury he had before. "You need to practice using your claws, Rivus, or you'll look like a girl when fighting your oponents," Kludd mocked a young soldier. He had told Nyra that he would take over her duties of training for the time being. The class couldn't help but laugh. Not a good thing, when you're meant to be evil. If the laughs were atleast evil, but nope, these were certainly not out of hatred, but out of finding something amusing. When Kludd realised this he went back to being serious.

"When did you come back, weakling?" asked a tough young owl named Brutus, who was just as brutal as his name would suggest, Grace. Even he though, couldn't but laugh at what happened a few seconds ago. "Well I wouldn't want to be left behind, I am one of the Pure, why shouldn't I want to return to where I belong," this was a bit of a lie. She never wanted to be a part of this, but she didn't want to become a traitor. Traitors payed dearly. Brutus took in the answer and then thought about it, for what seemed like hours, but was actually only five minutes. He then glared in his king's direction. Luckily, Kludd noticed nothing, nor suspected nothing.

Grace was doing reasonably well for an owlet that hated battling. She had managed to beat her opponent, who appeared to be Brutus and give him some scratches to remember her by. She smiled at the thought of this scratch being a souvenier and then returned for some extra flight training. She practically taught herself. She decided to try out a stoop, even though owls don't use stoops. She wanted to be a better flier than any owl. She slew up, nice and high, picking up speed. Then she flew straight for a bit, spreading her wings out wide. "What are you doing?" asked Brutus, now in a friendlier tone. She just smiled. Then she lowered down and headed to the ground, head first. "You must be crazy!" he cried out. Kludd turned around, to see Grace, flying straight at him. This crash was inevitable. She managed to get beck to normal flying, but it was still too late to dodge him.

Bang! Kludd's mask fell on the ground. He growled at the owlet. "Oops," she chirped quietly. Kludd managed to stand upright, but was still angry. "What was that!" he shouted. All the other soldiers turned around. All they managed to see was two owls with ruffled and torn feather. "Sorry master, I was just trying to..." Grace started apologising.

"Stop acting like an owlet! You all are soldiers! This behaviour is below you! And if you think of behaving like this, soldier, once more, I will personally tear your feathers out!" he scolded Grace. His wings and head hurt from the impact and it didn't help that there were several other owls watching. "Class dismissed."

Grace was about to walk away, when something stopped her. Not Kludd again! "Not you," he said. She looked in his eyes. "If I am meant to tell you what I need to tell you, you are to stay here. I'll return in an hour, but as you're the one who caused all this," he continued, looking round the slightly messed up room, "it will only be a suitable punishment for doing what you did." She sighed and nodded. Kludd walked out of the room.

Soon Kludd had found some mouse and ate it up. Then he thought about what to say. He had to sound serious and get the message through quite clearly. But this felt much harder than any other time. Why?

After the hour had passed, Kludd was returning. "Long time, no see," Grace said, hoping this might do some good. He just groaned. "Seems the only thing you aren't scared of is greeting owls," he retorted with a sly smile. Bad move? She shrunk back, when she realised that her greeting had no impact. "Well, what to do with an owlet like you," he sighed as he thought of the options. "Battle... no... Prison... you'd escape..."

She looked at him in confusion. "Guess that leaves a punishment job," he concluded. "You'll be one of the owls on guard tonight." She nodded. That was nothing too hard or too easy, suitable for both. "But if you escape, your life will be a nightmare!" he warned her. She shuddered for a while. Kludd let out an evil smile. _This would do, _he thought.


End file.
